


Ever Since We Met

by afvcso



Category: Panic! at the Disco, The Selection Series - Kiera Cass
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 02:12:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14631936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afvcso/pseuds/afvcso
Summary: Prince George Ryan Ross III isn't your average prince. He's shy and reserved. While most princes ride horses and get in sword fights, Ryan (as he likes to be called) would rather be writing and playing music.Brendon Boyd Urie is your average caste five. He's a musician that one day hopes to be a two on stage, performing in front of a crowd. He was never really interested in the royal life. But when his family got a letter for the Selection, all that changed.





	Ever Since We Met

I didn't know how to react when we got the letter. I assumed that it would be for one of my sisters, but they're too old to participate. I wasn't sure why I got a letter. The only reason would be if the prince isn't straight. We read over the letter, and it turns out that the prince is bisexual.

"You're doing this." My mom stated. "Not because we want you to, because we need the money." I rolled my eyes at that. We do need the money, but she can't force me to do this. It does sound like fun though.

"Okay. I'm fine with it. I was thinking of joining anyway." I shrugged and took the paper from her. I went up into my room and sat at my desk. I grabbed a pen and started to fill everything out.

After I filled the form out, we left to go turn it in. There were already at least one hundred people in front of us in line. There's still a couple weeks to fill out the form and turn it in, but I guess everyone wanted to get it done early. I seemed to be one of the very few guys there. It didn't bother me though. I didn't expect there to be many.

-

After a hour or so, it was finally out turn. I handed the person my form, and they told me to go sit in a chair to take a picture. I followed their instructions and sat down. They took my picture, and we were done. My mom and I walked back to our house in silence. I broke the silence about halfway back.

"So, you think I'll get in?" I asked.

"Probably not, but I hope you do. We really need the money." I frowned slightly at that.

"It's not just about the money, mom. I wanna do this so I can hopefully find love." I said, and she rolled her eyes.

"Well, good luck finding that." She replied, her tone drenched with sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and walked ahead of her. She never liked the fact that I wasn't straight. She hated it, actually. There wasn't anything she could do about it, though. I am who I am, and nothing's going to change that.

-a couple weeks later-

We were all gathered around the tv tonight to see who made it into the Selection. We listened as they listed the names.   
Sarah Orzechowski from Allens,  
Jaxtyn Reed from Angeles,  
Arielle Blue from Atlin,  
Dallon Weekes from Baffin,  
Hannah Meyer from Bankston,  
Wyntyr Blanchard from Belcourt,  
Spencer Smith from Bonita,  
April Summers from Calgary,  
Maya Collins from Carolina,  
Brendon Urie from Clermont..." I heard my name and gasped.

"I-I made it." I stuttered out as a wide grin spread across my face. I stopped listening after my name was called since I was still trying to comprehend what had happened.

-

The past few weeks have been crazy. People have been going in and out of my house, getting me ready for everything. Today is the last day before we leave, so I have someone coming to discuss rules with me. There was a knock at the door. I rushed to go open it.

"Hello." I said to the man that was standing at the door with a smile.

"I'm assuming you're Brendon Urie?" I nodded.

"Come in." I stepped aside so that he could walk in. I then led him into the dining room and sat down at the table. "So, you're going over rules?"

"Yes. Are you ready to start?" I nodded. "Okay. First one is that you are not allowed to leave the palace on your own accord. The prince must dismiss you." I nodded, and he continued. "There is no timeline for the Selection. It could last from days to years."

"Okay." He then continued.

"You may not arrange your own times with the prince unless you are in a social setting." I nodded again. "You may not sabotage or fight other contestants. There will be consequences." I nodded again. "You may only have a romantic relationship with the prince. If you get caught, you will be punished." I bit my lip and nodded. "If you are found breaking one of Illéa's written laws, your punishment will be tied to that offense."

"Okay." I nodded.

"You cannot eat food or wear anything that is not provided by the palace. You must be courteous to the photographers and allow them to see your lifestyle with the prince. For each week you stay, your family will be compensated. If you get eliminated, you will have an aide to guide you through your new life. If you make it to the top ten, or Elite, you will learn how to do things a prince would do. Your caste will be automatically raised to a three. Your family's caste will stay the same. If you are chosen by the prince, you and your family's castes will be raised to a one." He said with me nodding in between each rule to show that I understand.

"Is that it?" I asked when he paused. He shook his head.

"I just have to ask you a somewhat personal question. Are you a virgin?" I was a little taken back from the question but nodded to say that I was. "Okay. Now I just need to tell you that if the prince wants to do anything with you, and I mean anything including dates, kissing, and even more than kissing, you will do that with him."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Well, I'm done here. Thank you for letting me take your time, Mr. Urie." I nodded and led him back out. I shut the door behind him and sighed softly. This was going to be interesting.

-

The next day I was on an airplane to Angeles. I was too nervous to even speak to anyone. Sarah Orzechowski sat next to me. She seemed nice even though we didn't talk until the last hour of the flight. She's a two. A model, but she isn't like the other twos that I've met. She's respectful and nice to the lower castes. We talked the whole hour. We like some of the same music and everything. We soon made it to the palace. We walked inside and were soon all whisked away by maids and butlers. They started to pamper me and make me look like I actually deserved to be here.

-

After about a hour, I looked amazing to say the least. We started to walk to the huge dining room for dinner. Kelsey, our guide/teacher, told us that we were going to meet the prince. Both nervousness and excitement bubbled in my stomach. I kept a confident smile on to hide the nervousness that was there. I walked into the room and looked around in awe. The designs were amazing. I walked around for a second before sitting at the table for the selected. The royals all sat at a separate table. I chewed on my lip nervously the whole time as I waited to meet the prince after dinner. I heard other people being called. I stopped paying attention after a while and tried to focus on what I was going to say.

"Brendon Urie." A voice called out, signaling that it was my turn. I stood up and ran a hand through my hair quickly as I walked over to where the prince was standing. I took a deep breath then approached him.

"Hello, your highness." I said, bowing respectfully.

"You don't have to call me that." He chuckled softly. "Just call me Ryan."

"Ryan?" I asked hesitantly. "You go by your middle name?"

"Yeah. It's easier than getting mixed up with my father." Ryan replied, smiling slightly. "So, your name is Brendon?" I nodded. "Where are you from?"

"Clermont." I replied quickly.

"Ah. I've heard the beaches there are nice. Are they?"

"I've been maybe once or twice, but the ones I've seen are. I don't have much time to go to the beach with work and everything." I shrugged slightly.

"What do you do for work?" He asked, sounding interested even though he probably wasn't.

"I'm a musician. A five." I replied, clarifying that I wasn't a two. At least not yet.

"Are you any good?"

"Everyone tells me that I am, so I try to believe it as much as I can." I smiled nervously.

"Maybe you can play for me sometime." Ryan offered, returning the smile.

"Yeah. Maybe." My smile widened slightly as I started to feel a little more comfortable.

"Well, I'm sorry that this was short. I have to talk to 35 of you. I'm sure we'll talk soon though." He smiled. I nodded.

"Yeah. I hope so. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"It was a pleasure to meet you as well." He replied. I then bowed quickly and walked back to my seat quickly sitting back down next to Sarah.

-

After a few days, we started lessons. We all had a schedule by now. At about 7, we woke up and started getting ready for breakfast. At 9, breakfast ended then we went to our lessons. Lessons were until noon, and after that was lunch. We then had free time until dinner at 6. We've been here for a week, and I still hadn't gotten my promised date with the prince. There are a lot of us though, so he might have just forgotten about it. There were 26 people here after the first day. Nine people were eliminated after meeting Ryan. I'm honestly surprised that I made the cut.

-

On my tenth day here, I was sitting in the men's room. I was reading a book and humming softly to myself when I heard the door open. I assumed that it was one of the other guys until the person sat next to me. I looked over and realized that it was Ryan. My eyes went slightly wider than usual.

"Oh, hello." I greeted with a small smile.

"Hi." Ryan replied, also smiling. "I just realized that you haven't showed me your musical skills yet."

"Oh yeah, I haven't." I nodded slightly. "I could show you now if you aren't busy."

"That's what I was actually just going to ask." He chuckled softly. "Have you been to the music room yet? It's amazing. There's so many different instruments." My eyes lit up.

"That sounds great." I grinned. "I can't wait to see it."

"Well then, let's go." Ryan stood up and held out his hand for me to take. I set the book I was reading on the end table and took his hand before standing up. We started to walk to the music room while talking about the kinds of music we liked. We both seemed to like the same music, which I though was pretty cool.

We got to the music room, and Ryan pushed the doors open. My eyes went wide, and my jaw dropped. It was even more amazing that he made it sound.

"Woah." I managed to mumble. I heard Ryan chuckle. He grabbed my hand again and pulled me inside. I sat down at the piano and started to play something that I wrote, singing after I played the introduction.

"Whether near or far  
I am always yours  
Any change in time  
We are young again

Lay us down  
We're in love  
Lay us down  
We're in love

Ahhhh  
Ahhhh  
Ahhhh  
Ahhhh

In these coming years  
Many things will change  
But the way I feel  
Will remain the same

Lay us down  
We're in love  
Lay us down  
We're in love

Ahhhh  
Ahhhh  
Ahhhh  
Ahhhh"

I played the last notes then brought my hands back down to my lap. I looked over at Ryan. He just stood there, staring at me with his mouth agape. I let out a small giggle and walked over to him.

"Earth to Ryan." I joked, waving a hand in front of his eyes. He snapped out of his daze and looked down at me.

"That was..." he paused, searching for the right word. "incredible!" My face immediately went red.

"Thanks." I replied, looking down to hide my blush.

"I'm serious, Brendon." Ryan said, living my chin up with a finger. "You have a ton of potential. I'll be surprised if I don't see you performing concerts all over the world in the next year or two. You know, unless I choose you." My blush darkened at the last sentence.

"Thanks Ryan. It means a lot to know that you think I have potential."

-two weeks later-

Ryan and I have gone on quite a few dates by now, most of them in the music room. We've started to write a few songs of our own since we got tired of covering other people's songs. Ryan has written some amazing lyrics. They're probably the most amazing things I've ever seen. I'm trying to figure out what the lyrics mean, but they don't seem like something Ryan would relate to. They're still great nonetheless.

-

"This is nice." I said randomly as Ryan and I were sitting out in the grassy area of the gardens.

Ryan nodded. "Definitely."

After a few minutes of silence, I spoke again. "Hey, I have a question for you."

"Yeah?" Ryan asked, head tilted slightly.

"What do your lyrics mean? Do they have to do with your life or do you just think they sound good?" Technically it was two questions, but that doesn't really matter.

"Well, I guess some of them are based on my personal life. Most of the do, actually." He replied, shrugging. "I'd rather not talk about it now if that's okay."

"No, it's completely fine. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." I smiled.

"Thanks Bren." He smiled and softly kissed my cheek.

-about a month later-

I bit my lip as I got ready for the day. Ryan was choosing the Elite tonight on the report. I'm pretty sure that I'll be one of them, but you can never be too sure. I decided to go out in the gardens to hopefully calm down. When I got out there, I noticed one of the other selected there. I haven't really gotten to know anyone besides Sarah, so I decided to approach him.

"Hi," I said with a small wave. "I'm Brendon." Just as I walked up to him, I noticed how freakishly tall he was.

"I'm Dallon." He replied with a small smile. "You're good friends with Sarah, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I shrugged. "We talk quite a bit."

"She talks a lot about you. It's all good things, don't worry." Dallon said, still smiling.

I nodded slowly. "Okay... So, you worried about the elimination tonight?"

"Yeah, kinda. George and I don't really have much in common." He sighed softly.

I raised and eyebrow. Apparently he doesn't let everyone call him Ryan. "That's not good. I hope you get to stay though. I'm sure he likes you."

"Maybe." Dallon shrugged. "I guess I can keep trying to make it work."

"Well, good luck Dallon." I smiled at him. "I'll see you later." I then walked back inside and to the music room. I sat at the piano and started playing whatever came to mind. I hummed softly along as I played, inspiration starting to bubble in my mind. I soon started to write a new song. I came up with lyrics as the song went on.

"Ever since we met,  
I only shoot up with your perfume.  
It's the only thing that makes me feel as good as you do." I sang, smiling softly. That's where I stopped. I couldn't really think of other lyrics at the moment. When I did stop, I heard clapping from behind me. I turned around, seeing Ryan there. I smiled brightly at him, and he returned it back.

"That was amazing." He said, walking over to sit next to me.

"Thanks, Ry." I replied. "I can't think of anything else for lyrics though."

"This is kinda unrelated to what your song is about, but I just came up with some that you might like." Ryan shrugged. He then started playing the piano and singing softly. "Here I am  
Composing a burlesque  
Out of where they rest their necks  
Sulking in their splintered cradles  
And ramshackle heads  
They asked for it  
As a boy  
I eat my wishes on golden tooth picks  
and digested them with wolf intestines

I fell from the heavens  
As a fetish blessed with  
An operatic skeleton  
And as the stars watch me descend  
I crack a family tree and  
Chopped off all of the branches

I fell from the heavens  
As a fetish blessed with  
An operatic skeleton  
And as the stars watch me descend  
I crack a family tree and  
Chopped off all of the branches"

I grinned at him. "I really like that, especially the beginning. They don't exactly make sense, but I'm sure you have a reasoning for what they mean. That's what I love about you" I then realized what I said and tried to play it off. "-r music. Your music." I bit my lip, hoping that he would buy it. He seemed hesitant, but brushed what I said off eventually. We continued playing piano, guitar, and whatever instruments we felt like playing until we had to go down for the report.

-

"And the Elite are," Ryan paused and took a deep breath, "Spencer Smith, Dallon Weekes, Hannah Meyer, Sarah Orzechowski, Jon Walker, Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Jaxtyn Reed, Wyntyr Blanchard, and Brendon Urie." I smiled as I heard my name. "To the rest of you, I'm sorry but it's your time to go." He then walked back over to his parents. I was 99.9% positive that my grin stayed on my face the whole night.

-a month later-

Ryan and I have been closer than ever lately. We've shared many kissed. There have been a few times where it has lead to a little more than kissing. He finally told me about his inspiration for some of his music. It's sickening to know that people do that to their children. I held Ryan close to me and let him rant. I'm pretty sure that I love him. He's better than any of the other boyfriends that I've had. I actually feel something with him.

-

I hummed to myself as I walked around the halls, trying to think of something to do. I stopped for a second to think. Suddenly, everything went dark. A pair of hands had covered my eyes.

"Guess who?" A soft voice asked. I grinned as I immediately knew who it was.

"Hey Ry." I replied, giggling softly. He removed his hands from my eyes, and I turned around, engulfing him in a hug. Ryan hugged back, and I could practically sense him grinning. We stayed there for a minute until-

Crash. Then a dark figure ran past the hall we were in.

I looked up at Ryan in a panic. He had the same look of panic on his own face.

"Shit." He cursed under his breath, grabbing my wrist and leading me somewhere in a hurry. He searched the wall for something until the wall opened up to reveal a small room. He pulled me inside and closed the door.

"What's going on?" I asked in a whisper, biting my lip nervously.

"Rebels." Ryan replied simply.

"How do you know?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I saw one. The dark figure that ran past?" I nodded. "Good thing he didn't see us."

I nodded again in agreement. "Yeah... What if they find us?"

"They won't. They can't get in without the key." Ryan shrugged. "Let's just try to forget about it, okay?" He asked before leaning in to kiss me. I nodded slightly before kissing back. The kiss seemed to get heated fairly quickly. Ryan's lips trailed off of mine, down to my jaw, and then eventually to my neck. I had to bite my lip to keep from making noise, knowing that rebels were out there. His hands trailed from where they were tangled in my hair down to my hips, and then eventually up my shirt. His hands rested on my waist as everything got more heated.

-

We were lucky that there were blankets down here, because it was freezing cold after a while. Other than that, we just had body warmth to keep us warm. I snuggled up to Ryan, smiling softly. I looked up at him, and he was smiling slightly as well. I laid my head on his bare chest and closed my eyes, hoping to get some sleep. Every once in a while we would hear a crash, so we knew the rebels were still there. We tried not to let it bother us. We distracted ourselves by kissing each other and... other things. After a few minutes, I heard soft snoring. I chuckled softly, careful not to wake him up, and soon fell asleep as well.

-

"We found them!" Is what I heard that woke me up. It was a guard. I turned to face Ryan and buried my face into his chest, not wanting to get up.

"Bren, we have to get up and dressed. We can go back to my room and sleep if you want." Ryan mumbled.

"Okay." I sighed and looked at the guard. "Could you please give us a minute or two?" I asked as politely as I could. He nodded and shut the door to the safe room. It wasn't all the way though. There was still a small crack where light was shining through. I gathered my clothes and put them on as Ryan did the same. We walked out a couple minutes later to see a complete mess.

"Woah." Ryan mumbled. "It's never been this bad before."

I nodded even though I didn't really understand. "Why would people do this?"

"Because they hate the government." Ryan replied with a shrug.

"Then why don't they just leave the country?" I asked. I mean, it seemed realistic.

"I really don't know." Ryan sighed. "Let's just go to my room and go to sleep."

I nodded tiredly and followed Ryan to his room. We got into bed and quickly fell back asleep.

-

I woke up to Ryan trying to get out of my grip.

"Don't leaveeeee." I mumbled tiredly.

"But I need to take a shower." Ryan sighed.

"Cuddle with me now, and take one later." I whined.

"Fine, only because you're adorable." I could practically hear him smiling as he cuddled up to me.

"Hey, Ry? Can I tell you something?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Of course. You can tell me anything." He responded, turning to look at me face to face.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a second. "I love you." I said before studying his face, waiting for his reaction. Suddenly, he put his hands on my cheeks and pulled my face towards his, our lips colliding in a passionate kiss.

"I love you, too." Ryan whispered as he pulled away slightly, our foreheads still touching.

-

Ryan and I ended up doing nothing all day. We just stayed in bed, cuddling and whispering 'I love you's to each other.

"We have to go to dinner." Ryan stated eventually.

"I don't wanna." I frowned slightly. "Do you think they've cleaned up from the attack yet?"

"Probably." Ryan nodded. "But we have to go."

I sighed. "Fine. I have to go back to me room and get dressed then." I started to get up, frowning slightly, before walking out of Ryan's room and towards mine.

-

I walked into the dining hall and sat down next to Sarah, like usual.

"Hey, I haven't seen you a lot lately." She started when I sat down. "We've heard rumors that guards found you and the prince together in one of the safe rooms."

"Oh, yeah." My face heated up. "We we're together when it happened, so he pulls me towards the closest safe room."

"Oh, that makes sense." She nodded. "What did you guys do? Did you just talk?"

"Uh, Yeah. I guess you could say that." I replied, not really wanting to reveal what we actually did.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? I'm not going to make you say anything that you don't want to, but I'd rather you not lie to me."

"Yeah... we didn't just talk..." I trailed off.

"Wait... did you two...?" She asked in a surprisingly happy tone.

I nodded. "Yeah. We did."

Sarah grinned. "I'm happy that you trust him enough for that! Do you think you're in love?"

"Yeah, I am." I nodded, smiling softly.

"Aww! I'm so happy for you!" She wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

"You're not mad?" I asked.

"No, why would I be? I've found that I don't like him in that way." She replied, shrugging.

"Oh, well I hope that you find someone when you get back home." I smiled at her.

"Thanks Brendon." She smiled back. "I hope that you're happy with him."

-

A few days later Sarah, Hannah, and Jaxtyn got eliminated. Now it's down to seven of us. From what I can tell, nobody has gotten anywhere close to the type of relationship that I have with Ryan. He says that I'm the only one he's even kissed, let alone had sex with. Hell, I'm the only one he lets call him Ryan. Everyone else calls him George. I have a feeling that the proposal Ball is soon. At least, I hope it's soon. I really just want him to be mine, and for me to be his. That's the only thing I want.

-

I knocked on Ryan's door, leaning against the door frame as I waited for him to answer.

"Hey." Ryan greeted with a kiss, answering the door.

"Hey." I mumbled against his lips, smiling. We then pulled away.

"Whatcha want?" He asked casually, smiling.

I shrugged. "I just wanted to say hi and see if you wanted to hang out."

"Well, I'd love to." Ryan smiled brightly. "Where do you want to go?"

"The music room?" I suggested happily. I had been working on a new song, and I needed Ryan's opinion.

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Let's go." He smiled and grabbed my hand, taking me to the music room.

Once we got there, I sat at the piano. "I wanna play something for you."

"Okay, got ahead." He replied, sitting next to me.

I nodded and started to play. 

"When the world gets too heavy  
Put it on my back  
I'll be your levy  
You are taking me apart  
Like bad glue  
On a get well card  
It was always you  
Falling for me  
Now there's always time  
Calling for me  
I'm the light blinking at the end of the road  
Blink back, to let me know  
I'm a fly that's trapped  
In a web  
But I'm thinking that  
My spider's dead  
Lonely, lonely little life  
I could kid myself  
In thinking that I'm fine  
It was always you  
Falling for me  
Now there's always time  
Calling for me  
I'm the light blinking at the end of the road  
Blink back, to let me know  
That I'm skin and bone  
Just a king and rusty throne  
Oh, the castle's under siege  
But the sign outside says 'leave me alone'  
It was always you  
Falling for me  
Now there's always time  
Calling for me  
I'm the light blinking at the end of the road  
Blink back, to let me know  
(It was always you)  
Blink back, to let me know  
(It was always you)" I finished and looked at Ryan, smiling softly.

Ryan smiled brightly and kissed me passionately. It took me a little by surprise, but I kissed back with just as much passion.

"I love you so much." He mumbled.

"I love you more."

"Not possible."

-

More and more people are getting eliminated. It's making me nervous that Ryan is going to change his mind about me. Only four of us are left. There's Spencer, Jon, Dallon, and me. I've talked to Spencer and Jon a lot. They seem really nice. I see why Ryan likes them. The three of us hang out in the music room a lot. Spencer can play drums, and Jon can play bass. Since I can play guitar and piano, we have jam sessions a lot. They're really fun, and I wish things could always be this easy. When we do this, I forget that we're competing. It's a nice change from what I'm used to.

-

"Hey Spencer, you wanna do something?" I asked one morning.

"I, uh, I can't. I have to pack." Spencer sighed softly. Why was he packing? That would mean...

"You got eliminated?" I asked in shock. "Why?"

"I may or may not have gotten in a relationship with someone else." Spencer replied with a sigh.

"Who?" I asked curiously. I would've never guessed that Spencer would do that.

Spencer mumbled something that I could barely understand.

"I can't hear you, Spence. You gotta speak up." I said, frowning slightly.

"It... it's Jon." Spencer replied. "Both of us are eliminated. Ryan is choosing tomorrow."

"Wait... really?" My eyes lit up, both from who it was and what Ryan is going to do. I kinda wanted Jon and Spencer to be together from the start. They were cute together.

Spencer nodded and smiled. "Yeah." He sighed sadly. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too." I replied, sighing as well. "I'm sure we can see each other again one day."

Spencer smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I hope so."

-

I'm so fucking nervous. It's time for the proposal, and I'm wondering if Ryan is having second thoughts. I paced around the room, feeling everyone stare at me. I didn't care though. I just want this to be over with before I have an anxiety attack. What if he chooses Dallon? Then I'll be heartbroken. I'll have lost the love of my life, and I really don't want that.

I tried taking deep breaths to try and calm down. This was just really nerve wracking.

"Calm down, Bren. It'll be fine." Someone whispered into my ear from behind. I turned around and immediately sighed in relief when I saw who it was.

"Spencer? I thought you and Jon were leaving?" I asked the taller man confusedly.

"We were going to, but we didn't want to miss this. So, we asked Ryan if we could stay for today." Spencer replied, smiling brightly.

I nodded. "Okay, well, I'm glad that a couple people that I know are here. I don't know Dallon very well or any of the staff, so I guess having you two here is going to help me." I stated, smiling at him.

Spencer nodded. "Yeah, I get what you mean. Anyways, Ryan's coming. Good luck!" He gave me a quick hug before walking back to Jon.

I nodded and walked to where Dallon and I were supposed to stand. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath before looking at Ryan, a nervous smile spread across my lips.

Ryan smiled back and started to step towards us. He opened his mouth to say something before-

"Get to the safe room! Now!" A guard yelled, bursting into the room. "Rebels are in the castle again!"

-

I gasped before someone grabbed my wrist and started to pull me out of the room. I looked and noticed that it was Spencer, who was also dragging Jon with him.

"What about Ryan?" I asked worriedly. I couldn't lose him. He was all that I really had anymore.

"He'll be okay, Bren. I promise." Jon replied with a soft sigh.

"But what if he isn't?" I asked, eyes wide. This was when my anxiety really started to kick in. "He could get hurt... really hurt. I can't handle that."

"C'mon, Bren. We can talk about this in the safe room!" Spencer continued to pull me along.

After a couple minutes, they pulled me into the big safe room, where a lot of people already were. But not Ryan.

"Where's Ryan?" I asked weakly. Tears were welling up in my eyes, and I was about to just start sobbing.

"He'll be okay, Brendon. I promise." Jon tried to comfort me, but I didn't want it. I just wanted Ryan. I don't want him to get hurt.

-

It was a hour before they let us out. A hour without my Ryan. A hour of me worrying. A hour of me crying and praying that he was okay.

"Where can I find him?" I asked one of the guards. "Where's Ryan?"

"He's in his room, recovering." The guard responded. "We found him in a safe room with Sir Dallon."

My heart seemed to drop at those words. Did he want to save Dallon more than me? "Can you take me to him?" I asked hesitantly.

The guard nodded. "Yes, Sir. Follow me."

-

"Ryan?" I knocked on his door, biting my lip nervously.

"Come in." His voice rang from inside the room.

I hesitantly opened the door and walked into the room. Once I got inside, I noticed Ryan laying in his bed. He had bandages on his shoulder and his other arm. "R-Ryan, what happened?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"I, uh, I got shot." He replied softly, looking down.

I hurried over to his bedside and sat next to him. "Why didn't you follow everyone else? You could've been okay."

"Dallon froze. I needed to help him. I wasn't just going to let him get killed." Ryan replied with a sigh.

My face fell. Dallon. That was the reason. "Oh." I mumbled, looking down slightly. "I, uh, I guess I'll go then. I found out what I needed to know." I started to walk towards the door, my eyes already watering. He chose Dallon over me. That's fine. I'm fine.

"Bren, Wait." Ryan called.

I turned my head to look it him. "I'm fine, Ry. You seem to have made you choice." I forced a smile and opened the door.

"That's not what happened at all!" Ryan called. I could practically see the frown on his face even though I wasn't looking at him. "I love you, Bren. I just saw the Spencer and Jon already had you."

I turned to face him fully. "You mean...?"

Ryan nodded. "Yes, Brendon. I'm choosing you." He had a soft smile on his face.

I practically ran over to him and smashed my lips against his. He kissed back immediately. "I love you so much." I mumbled into the kiss.

"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was originally 15 separate chapters, but I realized how short it was so I ended up putting them all together. This was originally on my Wattpad, but I transferred it to here since I'm not able to be on there anymore. Anyways, thank you for reading this!
> 
> ~Hannah


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